HOLLAND, Mich. — Nearly two weeks after a 77-year-old Owosso barber violated a state-mandated order by continuing to cut hair, an Ottawa County salon owner reopened her business.
"I'm fighting for my dream," said Sarah Huff outside Ardor+Grit Salon and Lounge, which she's owned for nearly two years. "I'm standing firm and feel at peace."
Huff closed her Holland salon on March 17 before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a stay-home order in Michigan. With no concrete date for salons and barbershops to reopen, the bills started piling up, she said.
"By the time we may possibly open up in July, the bank will be gone and I will have had my dream crushed," Huff said.
Unwilling to wait, Huff defied the governor's order and reopened Ardor+Grit on Friday, May 15. She will only see one client at a time and requires everyone to wear a mask.
"I can do it safely," Huff said. "I'm wearing a mask and gloves. I had the whole place sanitized and am doing it as people go in and out."
A crowd of supporters welcomed her in front of the building – many of whom didn't know the salon owner.
"We made a promise that any business owner who wants to reopen we would give support to," said Audra Johnson of the Michigan Liberty Militia. "We have certain unalienable rights and [Whitmer] is not obeying our constitution."
State regulators recently suspended Owosso barber Karl Manke's license for violating an order to remain closed. The 77-year-old said he would cut hair "until Jesus comes."
The Holland Department of Public Safety already received complaints about the salon reopening, Captain Keith Mulder said.
"We have requested voluntary compliance from the owner," Mulder said. "If further action is required because of a possible continuing violation, we send the complaint to the Ottawa County Prosecutor's Office for a decision on enforcement."
Huff said she expected a cease and desist letter and knows she faces possible consequences.
"Maybe I won't be the only one in Holland to do something about it," she said. "There are people all over the U.S. doing something and standing up. No matter how we come out of this, it's the way it needed to happen. It's going to be whatever God wants."
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